Carson.....

On Friday, September 26, we took a scheduled trip to Children's Mercy for a skin biopsy. This skin biopsy will be sent to Dr. Kaler in Maryland for research. Carson did not feel a thing during the procedure, but he sure did feel the shot of Novocaine before hand. Dr Graf, Carson's Neurologist took the biopsy. During this appointment, Dr Graf also got the chance to see Carson eat his lunch. Dr Graf thinks he might be micro-aspirating (inhaling his food into his lungs) as you can imagine, this is not a good thing. There are some tests we could do to check, but the majority of them would be inconclusive. The best thing we can do is watch for signs...the main one is infection like pneumonia. To help Carson drink easier, Dr Graf suggested adding Thick-It to his milk. This makes the milk thicker, making it easier to swallow and less likely to go into his lungs. We started this immediately and has helped Carson drink easier. Dr Graf is also changing up his medicine. Carson's body tone is always very tight, Dr Graf explained this to us, his brain just does not have the function that tells his muscles to relax. In order to help Carson relax his muscles, we are going up increase his Clonazepam (muscle relaxant and anti-anxiety). Dr Graf said we will really like this drug as it will help with seizure control and his tone. We are also going to decrease his Phenobarbital. We continue to pray that these changes will make Carson more comfortable and give him more seizure control. Please continue to pray with us.

We are still struggling through teething. Carson has two teeth in plain sight and a third the is just poking threw and working on a few more. His gums are so swollen and bleed when the tooth starts poking threw. As you can imagine, he is crying a lot. We are doing all we can to keep him comfortable...Tylenol, frozen wash clothes and pacifiers, and oral-gel. I just keep telling myself, it is a good thing he will not remember this when he grows up.

We have seen an increase in play from Carson. He has a light box (just that, a light box that we put transparencies on, colors and patterns) he also has a Big Mac, a button that plugs into the light box that he can push to turn on his lights. He has been pushing this button with his hand and/or foot to see his lights. It is great to see! He has also been playing in his 'play box', he has found his bag of jingle bells again and likes to hit them to hear the sounds. Also in his 'play box' he talks to his toys. He has such a sweet voice, I can not hear it enough. We will work very hard to get this on video and add it to the web site.

I think that is all for now...will let you know when videos are up.
Sarah

New Updated Pictures

Teething sucks for all...
Just hanging out with Mom and Dad
With Dr. Graf, Carson's Neurologist and Courtney, Carson's nurse
Passed out just before his bath...so sleepy!
The Bowman's at the ISU vs Iowa party
Great Gma and Great Gpa Moranz with Carson
Sleeping so peacefully and just look at those arms...so cute!
Nap time in his cubs gear

Surpassed 10000 hits...WOW!

Carson's site has surpassed the 10000 marker...WOW...that just blows me away! Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Carson had a good weekend and was very tuckered out by Sunday evening. After a bath and barely getting his food down him before he passed out...he was out for the count. And he has started off the week with a great day! Sarah sent a text this morning saying "C is having a great day! Playing with toys!!!" What a blessed little boy and how blessed we are to have him in our lives.

I'll let Sarah update about this past Friday's appointment and a few changes they have made with Carson's medications...but all is well.

Have a great week!

Love,

Aunt Becky

WE BELIEVE

Great Monday!!!

After having a rough weekend, we are having a great Monday. Carson was very, very fussy on Saturday, nothing would soothe him, nor was he eating his normal amounts. He also had a lot of mucus on Saturday, we had to use the suction machine many, many times. We did however make it out to his Aunt Jen and Uncle John's house on Saturday for a BBQ while Cousin Julianna was in town. Sunday we had a little better day, we slept a lot...catching up from Saturday and only a few hours on Saturday night. (Carson has been having an interesting sleep pattern. He has been waking up from around 3:00 to 5:30 am crying. We have tried everything to soothe him, nothing seems to work until he wears himself out.)

Today we are having a great day! He has eaten well, napped and worked hard...Carson has stretched his muscles, had tummy time, where he worked hard to lift his head and look at his game on the computer. Carson has also had a lot of floor time, playing with Addy (a new baby I watch). We hope all of this hard work and content boy will continue threw the week.

Thanks for checking up on Carson! Will write again soon and add some pics!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

It's Daddy's birthday today! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!

Carson has two teeth down...the top tooth has finally broken through so hopefully he will have a break before any others start coming in. His ear infection and strep on his bottom are on the mend and his antibiotics are almost done! Thanks for all the prayers!

Carson gets to see his cousin Julianna this weekend and is super excited as it has been a long time! Other than that things are just pretty low key. I know Carson has been off in his sleep patterns lately...waking up at 3am and staying up for a few hours then going back to sleep. Prayers for his sleep pattern and rest would be great! I know Sarah and Jeff would appreciate it too!

Thanks again. Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

WE BELIEVE

A rough day

We had a little bit of a scare today. We woke up this morning and Carson had close to a 104 degree fever. He was very lethargic and would not eat or drink anything. We took him to Children's Mercy South urgent care. The nurses and drs took very good care of us. We actually had one who shared her experience with us, she lost her little one less then a year ago at 3 weeks of age, he had a rare genetic syndrome called Door syndrome. To learn more about this please visit their web site www.colinsugarbears.com. (I do not think she would mind me passing this info along) It turns out Carson just has some 'normal' child sickness. He has an ear infection in his right ear and a strep infection on his tush. We gave him some mortin in the hospital and he perked up, he did eat his bottle, cereal and meds there also. After his fever went down, we came home with a prescription for amoxicillin. Carson had a pretty crabby afternoon and evening, I think his tush hurts. He has finally calmed down a little tonight after eating like a pig!!! We are headed to bed shortly and hope to have a much better day tomorrow.

Thanks for Praying!!!

Teething...

More teething...Another tooth is about to come through on the top this time (and maybe another soon to follow)...so as you can imagine Carson has been a bit cranky and he has every reason to be that way. Sarah and Jeff keep up with the tylenol and cold wash clothes with ice and oragel...they are pros at this! He enjoys having his gums massaged and I was caught off guard one day at how strong Carson's jaws are and how his "bite" can hurt even without a mouth full of teeth. I'll be more attentive next time. :)

Things have been pretty low key overall...Carson had a visit from his Grandma and Grandpa from Iowa this weekend and also got to see his Great-Grandma from Topeka. He even talked to his cousin Julianna on the phone and although he wasn't too talkative at the moment he definitely was listening intently on what Julianna had to tell him. :)

Continue the prayers for the teething process and for his seizures to go away...

WE BELIEVE

Love,
Aunt Becky